Senator Vicki Marble thinks blacks and Hispanics are poor because of fried chicken.

I wanted to write a Howdygram post yesterday but didn’t set aside enough time. Actually, that’s not totally true. I had enough time but I preferred instead to take a really long nap and eat things. I’ll do my best to make up for it tonight, okay?

Before I jump into the main focus of this post — my recommendations for the last few days of TCM’s Summer Under the Stars festival — I’m pleased to present our latest Putz of the Week award to Vicki Marble, a deranged GOP state senator in Colorado who implied at a hearing on Wednesday that blacks and Hispanics are poor because of fried chicken.

Marble, who made her remarks while the legislature’s task force was discussing statistics for racial disparity in the poverty rate, said: “When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race: sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up, diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup and you just can’t help it. Although I’ve got to say, I’ve never had better barbecue and better chicken in my life than when you go down south. I love it.”

She also went on to mention “alcoholics, rageoholics, drug addicts, you have people, they say, who are addicted to porn.”

Apparently there was an audible gasp throughout the room, which triggered an immediate response from Democratic state representative Rhonda Fields, who is black. She said to Marble: “The title for this committee is the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force; and I will not tolerate racist and insensitive comments about African Americans. I was highly offended by your remarks. I will not engage in a dialogue where you are using stereotype references about African Americans and chicken. This is not what this committee is about. We’re trying to come up with solutions and it’s not about eating chicken.”

If we want to thin out the number of moron Republicans in government I think there should be an IQ test for anybody who wants to run for elected office. Holy mother of crap.

Tomorrow morning at the crack of 8 a.m. we’ve got a handyman — actually, a handywoman — coming over to re-grout the shower tile in our master bathroom. This is both thrilling and inconvenient on a number of levels, including: 1) new grout will look really swell; 2) how the hell am I supposed to take a shower in the meantime; and 3) I can’t think of anything else. While we wait for the grout to dry Sam can use the shower in our guest bath for a couple of days, but my mobility issues prevent me from doing the same so I’ll have to hang out in the study and be gross until Sunday. (Shut up.)

And now, as promised ... here are my favorite movie picks through the end of August for TCM’s Summer Under the Stars festival.

• ELIZABETH TAYLOR, 8/23. My favorites are: Life with Father (1947) with William Powell and Irene Dunne; Father of the Bride (1950) with Spencer Tracy; Giant (1956) with Rock Hudson; and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) with Paul Newman and Burl Ives, one of Tennessee Williams’ very best sweaty soap operas set in the deep South. 
• CHARLES COBURN, 8/24. Vivacious Lady (1938) with Ginger Rogers and James Stewart (this one’s a favorite of mine); Bachelor Mother (1939) with Ginger Rogers and David Niven; The More the Merrier (1943) with Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea; and Lured (1947), a whodunit with Lucille Ball and George Sanders. Boris Karloff co-stars as a deranged fashion designer. (Seriously.)
• CLARK GABLE, 8/25. Please check out four really early Gable films co-starring Joan Crawford: Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), Laughing Sinners (1931), Possessed (1931) and Chained (1934). My other favorites today include: Cain and Mabel (1936) with Marion Davies; Test Pilot (1938) with Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy; Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) with Charles Laughton; and It Happened One Night (1934) with Claudette Colbert.
• JEANNE CRAIN, 8/26. Margie (1946); Apartment for Peggy (1948) with William Holden and Edmund Gwenn; and Pinky (1949) with Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Waters.
• MARTIN BALSAM, 8/27. He was never really a leading man but co-starred in some terrific movies: Seven Days in May (1964) with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas; The Anderson Tapes (1971) with Sean Connery; The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) with Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau; and Little Big Man (1970) with Dustin Hoffman.
• SHIRLEY JONES, 8/28. Try not to miss: A Ticklish Affair (1963) with Gig Young; Elmer Gantry (1960) with Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons; The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963) with Glenn Ford; and The Music Man (1962) with Robert Preston. I love The Music Man!
• GLENDA FARRELL, 8/29. Glenda was the original fast-talking dame. Check her out in Little Caesar (1930) with Edward G. Robinson; Gold Diggers of 1935 and Gold Diggers of 1937; six of her best Torchy Blaine movies; and Talk of the Town (1942) with Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman.
• KIRK DOUGLAS, 8/30. Kirk is usually a little too intense and over-the-top for me, but I always enjoy his performance in these films: Out of the Past (1947), a film noir classic with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer; and Paths of Glory (1957) with Adolphe Menjou.
• REX HARRISON, 8/31. Great stuff! Don’t miss: Storm in a Teacup (1937) with Vivien Leigh and Cecil Parker; Over the Moon (1940) with Merle Oberon; Unfaithfully Yours (1948), an unforgettable Preston Sturges comedy with Linda Darnell and Rudy Vallee; and My Fair Lady (1964) with Audrey Hepburn.

I’m waiting for some delicious deliveries this week, including that collection of Greek olive tapenades I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, a shitload of sugar-free Russell Stover chocolates and four frozen deep-dish pizzas packed in dry ice from Lou Malnati’s in Chicago. One is a deep-dish pepperoni for Sam, the other three are Malnati’s amazing crustless pizzas, pictured below, which contain NO CARBS because the entire pizza is built on a half-inch thick layer of lean Italian sausage. In case you don’t know why this is such a huge deal, crustless pizza is a diabetic’s dream: I can eat the whole damn thing without raising my blood sugar.

It was nice of you to stop by. I think I’ll take a shower now and wait for Sam to get home from work. I also need food.